Note: This
workshop focuses on
the database module in MS Works version 4.5 for Windows. There will be
differences if working with earlier or later versions of the program.

Databases are
collections of
organized information... the phone book (white pages) is a common
database. Databases are organized by records and fields.

-- Fields
and the
categories of information... in the phone book, name,
address, &
phone number

-- a Record
is a set of
data-- one for each field. Alan Zisman, 2684 E. 2nd, 713-4705
would be one record in the phone book.

Unlike word processors
and
spreadsheets, you really need to think about how to organize your
database prior to entering data... a database is not
free-form.
Think about how you’re likely to use your data-- if you want
to be able
to treat first and last names separately, you will need to have them in
separate fields. Similarly, you may want to separate street address,
city, province, postal code (in an address-book database).

As well, before entering
data,
decide on a consistent manner... if you made a database of your CD
collection, would you list artist Shania Twain as‘Twain,
Shania’? How about Backstreet Boys?
There are not
necessarily right answers... but you need to be consistent.

We’re going to
create and use a
database to list our (real or fictitious) music collection-- CDs,
tapes,
old LPs, etc. Start MS Works, and click to start a new database...
You’ll see:

We’re being
prompted to add fields
and (optionally) identify their data-type and default value. Create the
following fields:

Title
Artist
Format
Genre
(all
text-format)

Year
Rating (number-format,
0
decimal
places)

(Why
didn’t I pick Date-format
for ‘Year’?)

When you’ve
pressed Add for
each of those fields, press Done.

(In older versions of
Works, you
aren’t prompted to create fields-- instead, on the blank
page, to create
a field, type the field-name followed by a colon:
Title:
You’ll
be
prompted to enter a size for the field-- the
maximum number
of letters you expect to store).

You should see something
like this:

This is showing you your
empty
database, looking something like a spreadsheet-- with the fields as the
vertical columns, and each (empty) record as a horizontal row. In
database-speak, this is known asList View. You
could enter your
data this way... but it might be easier to switch to Form
View-- click
the View menu’s Formitem
to see:

Here, you can enter the
data as if
on a paper form... one record at a time. But this default form
isn’t
very attractive... we can spruce it up, by choosing View/Form
Design.

Here, you can drag the
fields
around the page, change the font, size, and style used in the field
name, enter other text, like a title or instructions, add borders,
shading, graphics, etc. To make the dotted line for the data for each
field larger or smaller, click on the dotted line and drag it to the
desired size, or use the Format/Field Size menu
item.

(Earlier
versions combine the Form Form
Design views--
and don’t let you resize fields by drag and drop-- use theField
Width
menu item).

When you’ve
gotten a more
attractive form design, return to Form View (using the View/Form
menu item).

Now we can start
entering data.
Remember-- set rules for how to enter your data... for instance:

Title:
write
initial
words like “the” or
“a” at the end: Greatest
Hits, The

To enter data, notice
that the
first field is highlighted... type your first title. You could move to
the next field by clicking with the mouse... but instead, press the tab
key. Notice that pressingtabmoves you from field to
field.
Holding down the shift key when you press tab
moves
you backwards through the fields.

Notice the controls on
the
bottom-left of the window:

These tell you what
record you’re
currently working on, and let you move back and forth through the
records of your database:

|<
moves
you
to the very first record

<
moves
you
back one record

>
moves
you
forward one record

>|
moves
you
to the last record

As well, when you enter
data in
the last field on the page, and press tab, you get
an empty form
for the next record, ready to enter data. (Remember, shift +
tab
will back you up to the previous record).

Enter data for five
records... if
you discover that you’ve made a mistake in how your fields or
the data
are appearing, you’ll need to go back to Form Design
view to make
changes... for instance, if your dates are appearing as1995.00,
you forgot to set the number of decimal points at
‘0’. Go to Form
Design view, and click on the data-part of that field...
choose Format/Field
from the menus, and re-set the number of decimals to 0.

Form view is perhaps the
clearest
way to enter data... but it’s less useful if you want to see
all the
data, and perhaps draw conclusions from it. Switch back to List
view (using the View/Listmenu item).

In list view, you can
sort your
information in various ways... alphabetically by title, or by Artist,
or
by year, or whatever... with larger databases, it makes sense to sort
by
multiple criteria-- perhaps by Year, then by Artist, then by Title.

Use the Record/Sort
Records
menu command to see:

Notice that you can
choose up to
three fields to sort, choosing them from drop-down lists (so you
don’t
have to remember how to spell the field-names correctly!), and set each
ascending or descending-- so you could sort with the earliest year
first
(ascending) or the more recent first
(descending).

Often, simple sorting
will give
you valuable information.

For more detailed
information, we
might want to ask the database a question. Older versions of Works call
this a Query. Works 4 calls it a Filter. (In
the Tools
menu).

Typically, you should
first sort
the records, then apply a filter (or query)... that way, the filter
results will be sorted as desired. Check the following:

See how it would only
show records
that were Rap from the 1990s on CD (if any)... the results would show
up
in List view.

Sorts and Filters can be
used to
get all sorts of answers from a database... and that’s the
whole point--
storing data is only valuable if you can convert it into information--
data that answers a question, giving it meaning.

Another use for
databases is in
producing reports-- in this case, a report is a
printout of some
of your information. You may want to sort and filter your data before
producing a report... the report would, in that case, show the results
of those actions.

To produce a report,
click on Tools/Report
Creator. (Earlier versions of Works made you do all this
manually,
using Tools/Report). Give your report a meaningful
title-- you
can save up to 8 reports with your database, and remembering which is Report
6 is difficult!

The first window of the
Report
Creator looks like:

and simply checks the
title, font,
and how you want it to print-- vertically or horizontally. Next
takes you to theFieldspage:

This lets you choose
which fields
you want to appear in a report... so a filter is a sub-set of the
records, a report gives a subset of the fields.

The next pages let you
sort and
filter your records (if you haven’t already done so). The
final page
lets you include some basic statistics about the data:

When Done,
you’ll see something
like this:

Preview
gives you a Print
Preview screen, showing how the report will look when printed... Modify
gives you the above-page, without the dialogue box (which is also what
you get when you leave Print Preview).

In this mode, you can
make the
columns wider or narrower (drag the tabs on the top), change the
title’s
font and size, etc... preview the results before printing.

Other uses of databases
involve
merging their information with your word processor, for creating form
letters, report cards, labels, etc.

Here, we want to first
create a
database with the desired information... with that file open,
we’ll
merge it with the word processor.

Let’s use the
Music collection
information you previously created.

We’re first
going to merge the
information into a set of bogus-personalized fan letters... so start a
new word processor document.

Type the contents of a
typical
gushy fan letter... we want to tell Madonna (etc) how much we loved her
CD Like a Virgin, and how it was our favorite CD of
the year
1988 (or whatever)... and automatically do the same for each
other
artist in the database.

Type your letter... but
where you
come to items like the artist’s name, the CD name, the date
(etc), don’t
type anything. Instead, from the Insert menu,
choose Database
Field. You’ll see:

Click the Use
a Different
Database button to be able to select your database... when
you do
that, you’ll get a list of the fields in that database:

Select a field, and
click the Insert
button, followed by the Close button... in your
text, you should
see something like:

Dear
<<Artist>>

Type punctuation after
the
brackets, and continue, inserting the appropriate database fields where
needed.

When finished, Print
Preview.
You’ll be asked if you want to preview all database records--
say ‘Yes’.
Notice that you get your letter, with the database information
inserted... clicking Nextshows you the next fan
letter.

If you only wanted form
letters to
some of the artists, filter the database first.

(In real life, you might
want to
print... not now, please!)

--Note: In Works 4 only,
there’s a Tools/Form
Lettermenu item, that helps walk you through the process.
Similarly, let’s take a look at the Tools/Labels
menu item... it
asks you to choose between multiple copies of a single label, or labels...
implying
printing
a sheet where each label uses a different database
record. Pick labels.

You get instructions,
followed by
a page allowing you to pick from standard label sizes or enter a custom
size... next, you’re prompted to select a database, The Recipients
page lets you choose what you want to use from your database (again,
you
may want to sort and filter the database first).

The Label
Layout page lets
you select the fields to use and the layout on the label, and shows you
a sample label... If you type text in the sample, it appears on every
label-- for instance, a comma, in between City and Province fields in
an
address.

It’s a good
idea to Preview and
Test before printing... use standard paper rather than label paper for
your tests... maybe even do a test of one page of your label set, and
line it up with your label paper to see if it seems to fit.

And remember to only use
label
paper that’s clearly marked as being appropriate for your
type of
printer-- laser or inkjet, for instance... having labels come loose and
stick inside your printer can be a real mess!